Springbank 10yo ‘100 proof’

Campbeltown used to be a major whisky producing region, a centre of distilling the way Speyside is today but spotty quality control and massive over production (I’m sure there were other factors too) sank many of the 28 distilleries in the area. Modern Springbank is a true individual among distilleries, not just because it is one of the 3 surviving distilleries there – the other 2 being Glen Scotia and Glengyle.

Springbank is also one of the last truly independent distilleries and it is one of the absolute few to carry out every step of the whisky making process, from malting to bottling, entirely within its premises.

Springbank distillery produces the Springbank, Hazelburn and Longrow whiskies. Hazelburn is the ‘lowland’ style triple distilled whisky, Longrow is the peated twice distilled whisky and Springbank, in its individual fashion, makes its whisky with a 2.5 distillation method.

Nose: Resinous, juicy fruit, brine immediately jump out. At 57% the alcohol is quite numbing! Also whiff of smoke, fresh grass, flints and oakiness. With water: Nutty, more coastal, but also much more aromatically resinous.

Palette: Sweet malt and resin, again, like sap resin. Salty but also very reticent. Bit more water (not too much!) reveals some tea and white pepper, and a little vegetal. Becomes drying.

Finish: Medium, dry and salty.

Spingbank’s individuality extends to it’s whisky. A little idiosyncratic – the nose is too powerful and needs water, but the same water destroys the palette! It’s easy to tell when that happens with this whisky, it sort of falls apart on the tongue and feels watery and that’s what happened with 1 teaspoon of water.